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Dabule and 2 Others v A.G and Bank of Uganda (Consitutional Petition No. 2 of 2004)

Constitutional Court · [2007] UGCC 8 · 2007 Petition Dismissed ✦ AI-generated summary ↓ Download
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Constitutional petition under article 137 of the Constitution seeking declarations and redress
Decision
Petition dismissed; no remedy available in the Constitutional Court, the petitioners' recourse (if any) lying in their pending civil suit in the High Court.

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Holding

The petitioners challenged Legal Notices that froze bank accounts under section 26A of the Banking Act 1969 as unconstitutional. The Constitutional Court held that section 54 of the Financial Institutions Statute No.4 of 1993 repealed the entire Banking Act, including section 26A, and that the Legal Notices, made solely to implement the now-reversed freezing policy, became inconsistent with the 1993 Statute and ceased to have the force of law on 14 May 1993. A law repealed two years before the 1995 Constitution took effect cannot be inconsistent with it. The petition therefore disclosed no cause of action against the Bank of Uganda, and any remedy lay in a civil suit, not a constitutional petition. The petition was dismissed.

Facts

Following the 1979 overthrow of President Idi Amin, the National Liberation Front government enacted the Banking (Amendment) Statute 18 of 1980, inserting section 26A into the Banking Act 1969 to empower the Minister to freeze bank accounts of persons associated with the former regime. President Obote, as Minister of Finance, made Legal Notice 2 of 1982 and Legal Notices 2 and 3 of 1984, freezing the accounts of over 1,300 named entities, including most of the petitioners. The petitioners contended that they never fled Uganda, did not fall within the freezing conditions in section 26A, and were never heard before their accounts were frozen. They claimed the Legal Notices remained in force, denying them access to their funds. The Financial Institutions Statute No.4 of 1993, by section 54, repealed the whole Banking Act 1969 with effect from 14 May 1993. The facts were not in dispute; argument centred on the relevant statutes and their interpretation.

Issues

  1. Whether Legal Notices 2 of 1982 and 2 and 3 of 1984 are still in force or whether they were repealed.
  2. If the said Legal Notices are in force, whether they are inconsistent with or contravene articles 21, 26, 28 and 44 of the 1995 Constitution.
  3. Whether the petition discloses a valid claim or cause of action against the 2nd respondent (Bank of Uganda).
  4. What remedies, if any, are available to the petitioners.

Orders

  • The petition is dismissed.
  • The petitioners to pay the costs of the 2nd respondent (Bank of Uganda).
  • The petitioners and the 1st respondent to each bear their own costs of the petition.

Key headnotes

Statutory Interpretation — Repeal of Enabling Provision — Survival of Subsidiary Legislation
Statutory instruments made solely to implement a policy contained in a section of an Act cannot survive the repeal of that section; once their enabling provision and underlying purpose cease to exist, they become inconsistent with the repealing statute and lose the force of law.
Statutory Interpretation — Saving Clauses — Requirement of Consistency
A saving provision that preserves instruments made under a repealed Act only in so far as they are consistent with the new statute does not save instruments whose underlying policy the new statute has reversed.
Constitutional Law — Article 137 — Inconsistency of a Repealed Law
A law that has been repealed is null and void and can have no inconsistency with the Constitution, particularly where the repeal took effect before the Constitution came into force.
Civil Procedure — Cause of Action — Claim Founded on Repealed Law
A petition grounded on legal notices that had already been repealed discloses no valid cause of action against the respondents.

Legislation cited (12)

  • Constitution of Uganda 1995 art.137
  • Constitution of Uganda 1995 art.21
  • Constitution of Uganda 1995 art.24
  • Constitution of Uganda 1995 art.26
  • Constitution of Uganda 1995 art.28
  • Constitution of Uganda 1995 art.44
  • Banking Act 1969 s.26A
  • Banking Act 1969 s.26B
  • Banking (Amendment) Statute 18 of 1980
  • Financial Institutions Statute No.4 of 1993 s.54
  • Interpretation Act s.12
  • Currency Reform Statute 1987
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.